1. Adeline Paulina Irby was a British travel writer and suffragist who founded an early girls' school in Sarajevo and organized relief to thousands of refugees.
13 Facts About Paulina Irby
1. 2.
Paulina Irby's parents were Rear-Admiral Frederick Paul Irby and Frances Wright.
3.
Paulina Irby's brother Colonel Howard Irby was a noted ornithologist.
4.
Paulina Irby set out with her Scottish companion Georgina Muir Mackenzie initially to visit spa towns in Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1857.
5.
Paulina Irby took the lead in managing this school in 1871 helped by Priscilla Johnson who herself came from a campaigning family.
6.
Paulina Irby was corresponding with her friend Florence Nightingale and Paulina Irby was considered as a companion for Nightingale's mother in 1875.
7.
However, the Christian population went into revolt in the same year Paulina Irby closed the Sarajevo school.
8.
Paulina Irby followed the Bosnian refugees and distributed food to 3,000 people.
9.
Paulina Irby was mentioned in Parliament and William Gladstone wrote an introduction to the second edition of her book.
10.
In 1879 Paulina Irby was able to re-open the school supporting Christian children in Sarajevo.
11.
When Paulina Irby died in Sarajevo, leaving all her money to aid education in Bosnia, there was mourning in Belgrade as well as Sarajevo.
12.
Paulina Irby had been in correspondence with Florence Nightingale for many years and Nightingale kept copies of the letters but Paulina Irby requested that Nightingale's supportive, but occasionally critical, letters be destroyed after her death.
13.
Paulina Irby was awarded Order of St Sava and Order of the Cross of Takovo.